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The Great North Carolina GOP Tax Increase of 2014

Submitted by James on Fri, 11/29/2013 - 15:36

Originally published in November, but even more relevant now that the countdown has begun.

When Republicans talk about their big tax cut coming in January, people will be forgiven for not getting all that excited. The bottom rate will drop from 6.0% to 5.8%, which qualifies as nothing more than chump change. For a person making $25,000, the tax cut is whopping $50. Impressive.

Of course, if you happen to be a high-income earner, the picture is a lot prettier. Your tax rate will drop from 7.75% to 5.8%. So if you're making $200,000, you'll get a $3,900 tax break. In other words, your benefit from the Republican plan is 78 times higher than the person at the bottom of the income scale.

Seventy-eight freaking times!

But the gift that keeps on giving doesn't stop there. In addition to that whopping $50 savings, all income earners will now be paying taxes on movies, museums, live entertainment, service contracts, warranties, maintenance agreements, repair contracts, electricity and natural gas, manufactured homes and modular homes sold at retail, and a whole lot more. So if you spend as little as $5,000 on all of those services combined, you'll be paying an additional $235 each year. Most people will pay twice that.

Over the month ahead, right wing nutjobs will be singing the praises of tax reform as a giant step forward for North Carolina families. Don't buy their bullshit. You've been played. This is nothing more than the old bait and switch, and the only people who will make out are ... you guessed it ... the rich and well-to-do.

Comments

Aside rom the top 15% or so, most folks will end up paying more in taxes under this "reform". But the frustrating thing is, it will be hard as hell for people to keep up with it. Most people keep copies of their annual state/federal income tax filings, but they don't keep copies of the hundreds of receipts that are handed to them when buying this good or that service.

Great summation James. The "business friendly" Republican majority in Raleigh is getting ready to bring their chickens home to roost and everyone needs to know who, what, and why when it happens.

This was my company's third full year in business, and was absolutely the worst of the three. Unless I get extremely busy over the next 30 days we will finish the year roughly 10% below last year's total gross billing.
I hold our state's Republican governor and legislators responsible for most of the backslide.

Institutional and industrial upgrades, improvements, and planning projects - my biggest market base - were off significantly this year;. Our state is no longer an inviting, business friendly environment, no matter how much the GOP fanatics fantasize to the contrary. The delusional party of Pope must go before we all end up in the poor house.

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